The BEST Morning Routine

To Make Every Day a Productive Day

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Mornings, as a mom specifically, can be really chaotic. To say the least. There’s kids to get dressed and fed and ready for the day, not to mention the rush it takes to get yourself put together, usually forgetting to brush your teeth or comb your hair until your halfway to where you need to be. I get it. I’ve been there, done that! The worst is when you have mornings like this, it’s like the rest of the day is complete crap. You feel like you didn’t get anything productive done. Then you come home, feed your kids, husband, and maybe yourself (if you’re lucky), go to bed, and start the same chaotic, stressful morning all over again. It’s like the rated R nightmare version of the movie Groundhog Day!

It’s not that we don’t love our kids or our husbands and all the responsibilities that comes with being a parent. It’s just that before having kids, we cared for ourselves. Only our dishes (and maybe our spouses) were the only ones we had to clear from the table. Nobody was tugging on our shirts asking for more milk or for a snack for the millionth time. Nobody prepares you for the chaos of what most days look like. It may be “sweet chaos” in the grand scheme of things, but its chaos none the less.

I’m here to tell you that you CAN have a morning routine that helps you conquer each and every day. One that helps you stay on top of all of the everyday household chores. A routine that allows you to leave the house in the morning feeling ready to take on the day!

1. Wake Up Before Your Kids

I know that this can sound really scary if it’s not something that you are already used to doing, but I promise you, it is a GAME CHANGER! If you take away anything from this post, take this! I used to be that mom that would wake up once my kids woke up. In fact, my kids would come in my room and wake ME up. I was rushed, crabby, and by the end of the day I had nothing to take away for just myself and I dreaded starting it all over the next day.

Start by waking up 15 minutes early for one week. Increase that time by 15 minutes for the second week. This will help your body adjust to waking up a bit earlier than what it’s used to. Or, if you are like me, just rip that bandaid off and set your alarm 30-60 mins earlier than you would normally wake up. Use this time to shower or get yourself dressed and ready. Maybe set 5-10 minutes aside to read through a morning devotional or prayer to get your head in the right frame of mind for the day. Think of it this way, these extra 30-60 minutes may be the ONLY minutes you get to yourself today.

2. Make Your Bed

I can guiltily admit that I used to never make my bed. What was the point? I’ve recently started making my bed, however, and I’m telling you, it’s magical.

“Navy SEAL Commander, Admiral William McRaven, author of ‘Make your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe The World’ explains how making your bed every morning can have a positive impact on your well-being and behavior throughout the rest of the day.” Check out the full article here.

Gretchen Rubin, who is the author of “The Happiness Project,” said that when she asked people about what happiness-project resolution made the biggest impact in their happiness, many people said, “making the bed.” You can purchase her book below.

It’s crazy how a 2-3 minute task can really make such a big impact on our day and our overall happiness. I’m not an expert on it, but people have literally wrote books on the subject! All I can tell you is from my own experience and that is I enjoy when my room looks neater and that freshly made feeling when I crawl in it at night. Also things are easier to find and there’s an overall sense of peace. We all could use a little more peace, right?

3. Put One Load of Dirty Laundry in the Washer

Hands down laundry is one of my least favorite household chores. Laundry is one of those tasks that if you aren’t regularly keeping up with it, it sneaks up on you pretty quickly. You’ve got kids yelling, “Mom I don’t have any socks to wear” or you’ve realized that there aren’t any clean towels to dry yourself off after that shower you just enjoyed in peace. There are days where I’ll be completely caught up on laundry and I’ll think, great now I can coast for the next day or two, but I swear there is some wicked laundry troll living in my house because by the next day my hampers are overflowing again!

I have found laundry to be less daunting and overwhelming by putting one load of laundry in the washer before we leave our house. It literally takes 5 minutes to do. By the time you come home later in the day, the load will be ready to throw in the dryer. Boom.

4. Clean up Breakfast Dishes and Wipe Countertops

I used to be that mom running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off trying to get everything and everyone put together before I left the house. It was total chaos and extremely stressful. I still have moments where I am that headless chicken, but at least 5 out of 7 days a week things go a lot more smoothly. Back then, I’d rush out the door making sure all kids were accounted for and usually end up forgetting my purse. Let’s not even get started with the food smudged countertops and sink full of dishes that was left behind. Sound Familiar?

When you actually take the time to do it, cleaning up from breakfast really doesn’t take all that long. 10 to 15 minutes at most is all you need. Let the kids help! It will make you feel that much better about your day when you know you’ll be returning home to a clean kitchen. And isn’t that really every Mom’s dream?

Have Yourself a Great Day!!

You’re probably wondering how in the world am I ever going to get all of these things accomplished EVERY morning?? It only sounds daunting but in reality it really isn’t. Not doing these things only makes them take longer. Once you get the routine down, you’ll find ways to speed up the process and make it your own. Whether you work from home, part-time, full-time or stay home with the kids, I promise you that if you only accomplish these 4 things every morning, you will always feel accomplished!

While you’re here, I’d love it if you checked out a few of my other posts:

Even though I am a lot older——:), I totally agree with this post and I really really love it. There are days when something happens to “disrupt” the routine, but it is so much better when you have your routine. Now, my disruption would be a semi-retired husband. :).